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The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants

About organisation

Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) is an independent national charity which exists to campaign for justice in immigration, nationality and refugee law and policy.

Chair: Minoo Jalali

Chief Executive: Saira Grant

Since its inception in 1967 JCWI has helped many thousands of individuals and families who, often in desperate need, have been affected by the unfairness of British immigration and nationality law and policy.

Throughout its history JCWI has been instrumental in creating partnerships among voluntary and other service providers, becoming an important resource to them. JCWI’s current activities fall under the following headings:

policy work and campaigning,
legal advice and strategic casework,
media work and information dissemination
providing legal training to practitioners and others
publications of guides, handbooks and other reference materials
On the strength of its expertise in policy and casework JCWI continues to be an important resource for others who work in this field. It has established itself as a leading training provider in immigration, nationality and refugee law and over the years, thousands of trainees have benefited from its training courses.

JCWI produces written materials such as high quality briefings for parliamentarians, campaigners and activists. It regularly posts well researched blog articles on the current issues on its website and some of which are published in national and local newspapers and magazines. JCWI also publishes highly acclaimed handbooks and guides for practitioners and other users, the latest being its Guide to the Points-Based System. JCWI’s Immigration, Nationality and Refugee Law Handbook is an essential reference book and guide for all legal practitioners, students and advisors, a new edition of which is expected to be published in early 2015.

JCWI is unique in that it is almost the only national organisation in the field that has never sought nor accepted central government funds to preserve its independence, and can truly claim to be independent and free from any government influence.

JCWI is needed now more than ever, operating in an environment of highly charged immigration and race debate